Saving Grace
by Abylin
Summary: After the war, Harry and Hermione are happily married, expecting their first child together and enjoying a peaceful life in which they no longer have to fight. Then, though they somehow find themselves a decade back in time, teenagers again, although Hermione is still pregnant. Deeply shocked, can they get their act together enough to fight the war all over again and save Grace?
1. Chapter 1

SAVING GRACE: Chapter One

Although he did like the occasional sleep-in Harry Potter had always been an early riser. He was put to shame by his wife, though. It was only just 5am and Harry was still sleeping peacefully when Hermione Potter got out of bed to begin her day.

Slipping into the ensuite bathroom to relieve herself, Hermione froze in the doorway as she was about to return to the bedroom to get dressed. Even after nearly seven years of marriage the sight of her husband never failed to take Hermione's breath away. Covered to the waist with a sheet, Harry was shirtless, his hair sleep tousled and even messier than usual. His face lax with sleep, Harry showed no signs of the demons he still carried with him, making him look rather like the mischievous, innocent little boy Hermione imagined her husband would have been if James and Lily Potter had lived. Best of all, since the end of the war, Harry had consulted with healers that hadn't been brought off by Dumbledore, like Poppy Pomfrey had been, and an exercise and potions regime had corrected the years of stunted growth and malnutrition the Dursleys inflicted on him. Harry hadn't gained much in the way of height but he was now a healthy weight and he had muscles in all the right places. Hermione found him so, so sexy.

"We're lucky girls to have your daddy in our lives, munchkin," Hermione murmured, rubbing circles on her stomach where she knew their daughter was growing.

Even eight years ago Hermione would never have dreamed this was how her life would turn out; probably the most respected spell crafter in magical history, married to her best friend and expecting their first child together. When the war was going on most people assumed that Harry would naturally end up with Ginny and that Hermione would be with Ron. Harry and Hermione had been honorary members of the Weasley clan for so long that it was just assumed that eventually they would become official members. Harry and Hermione certainly thought no differently. Ron and Hermione had hooked up literally in the middle of the final battle and, straight after the battle, Harry had rekindled his relationship with Ginny. All that had fallen apart pretty quickly, though.

Harry and Hermione were quite keen to get their NEWTS. They'd both been offered good jobs, with the NEWT requirements waived, but both Harry and Hermione would prefer to know they got whatever jobs they ended up with on their own merits, not because they were war heroes. What they didn't want, though was to return to Hogwarts for their exams. Hogwarts was the scene of the final battle and the memories were a bit too raw for them to go straight back.

Luckily most of the war veterans were school age and the ministry were forced to make allowances for them if they wanted any of the current generation to become fully qualified witches and wizards. Harry and Hermione were thrilled when a NEWT correspondence course was announced and made plans to go and register the following day. They assumed that Ron and Ginny would do the same thing so it came as a complete shock when the two Weasleys declared there was no point in Hermione taking her NEWTS as she would he too busy at home raising Ron's children to get a job and that Ginny didn't need NEWTS either as, between raising Harry's children and hostessing the parties Harry would need to throw as Lord Potter, to work.

While Hermione did want a family eventually she would never settle for being a stay-at-home mother and she certainly wasn't going to even consider having a baby at just 18 years old. At that point Harry wasn't sure he ever wanted children and, now that the war was over, he wanted to relax for the first time in in his life, and enjoy the remainder of his teenage years before throwing him into something as serious as marriage. Ron and Ginny didn't agree, though. They'd grown up with the old fashioned example of their parents, who'd been married since Molly feel pregnant with Bill at 16. Molly had never taken her NEWTS and had always been the one to stay at home with the children, while her husband went out to work.

Molly had indoctrinated her children well because, no matter how much Harry and Hermione tried to say it didn't always have to be that way, Ron and Ginny were adamant that a woman's place was in the home, raising the children, while the men went out to support the family. Finally realizing that neither relationship had a future, Harry and Hermione had broken up with their partners.

Harry accompanied Hermione to Australia to find her parents and had been a ton of support for her when Mr and Mrs Granger washed their hands of their daughter, unable to forgive Hermione, or magic in general, for turning their lives upside down. They'd spent the rest of the summer seeing the world. Their year on the run, looking for horcruxes, was the only travel Harry had ever done so he was excited for Hermione, who'd traveled extensively as a child, to show him some of the sights.

The couple used the trip to relax after the last seven, extremely stressful years and to heal from everything they'd been through. Over time their relationship deepend. Harry had realized that, while Ron was his first friend, Hermione was his best friend. After all, unlike Ron, Hermione had never deserted him when he needed her the most.

It was his 18th birthday when Harry kissed Hermione for the first time. For years Harry thought he considered Hermione his sister but, since the end of the war, he'd realized that, being an only child, he had no idea what having a sibling felt like. He knew that he couldn't live without Hermione. Hell, thinking of their time in Malfoy Manor gave Harry chills. If Hermione had died Harry knew that he would have as well. On their travels since the end of the war Harry had also come to see Hermione for the beautiful, desirable woman she was so he decided to take a chance by kissing her.

Hermione, for her part, had known for years that Harry Potter was the most important person in her world. She'd just never dreamed that someone as amazing as Harry would go for a plain Jane like her. He did, though. Harry told her she was beautiful and sexy and he made her feel that way as well. After being bullied so extensively as a child and neglected by her parents because of her magic, Hermione had put up protective emotional barriers around herself, to stop her from getting close to anyone. This meant she often came across as nagging and uptight. That was how Hermione knew she was in love with Harry. She trusted that he would never hurt her so she'd been able to put down her barriers and truly be herself around him.

The couple were together from that moment on. When they returned to the UK to start their NEWT course news of their relationship set the wizarding world's gossip mill on fire. None of the Weasleys were very impressed that Harry and Hermione had dumped Ron and Ginny, only to get together themselves. Luckily, though friends like Neville, Luna, Hagrid and Professor McGonagall were more supportive.

It turned out that when Harry and Hermione told Ron and Ginny they didn't want to get married anytime soon, they really meant they didn't want to marry a Weasley. They were perfectly okay with marrying each other because Harry decided to give Hermione an engagement ring for her 19th birthday in September and she happily accepted his proposal. They eloped just over a month later, on Halloween; Hermione having chosen that date so Harry would have some positive associations with what was an otherwise extremely tragic day for him.

Then, after a short honeymoon in Italy, the Potters returned to their NEWT studies. Within a year Harry qualified for 'outstanding' level NEWTS in charms, care of magical creatures, defense, herbology and potions. Hermione got the same scores, with the addition of 'outstanding' NEWTS in arithmancy and ancient runes. At the same time as they sat the NEWT exams Harry also applied to sit the mastery exam in defense and aced the test. Hermione sat the mastery exam in charms and obviously also scored extremely well.

Neither Potter had positive associations with the Department of Mysteries so, rather than work for them, Hermione became a private spell researcher and, over the years, had designed many spells which had already been added to the Hogwarts curriculum. She was also planning to write a book in the near future while she was on maternity leave. Sick of fighting dark wizards, Harry had decided against becoming an aurour but, at the time of the exams, still hadn't been sure what he wanted to do with his life. Thanks to his inheritance Harry had more than enough money to never need to work but, like Hermione, wanted a job as not having one would make him feel bored and lazy.

Harry found his calling in his life when, finally having had enough of the Prophet publishing increasingly outlandish stories about himself and his wife, he used some of his inheritance to buy the paper outright. He sacked the entire staff, hiring new, honest reporters and installing himself as editor. Today the Prophet was back to being the most respected publication in the magical UK, instead of the joke it became while the war was on. Also, as well as running the newspaper, Harry had found time to counter Rita Skeeter's appalling Dumbledore biography by writing his own chronicle of the old man's life. He'd also published a chronicle of the war against Voldemort, which had taken the world by storm.

They'd waited quite a while to start a family. Hermione had thought it a good idea for them to settle into married life and their careers before they had kids. It turned out that she'd also needed that time to convince Harry to have a family at all. Having lost his parents at a young age and grown up with the abusive Dursleys most people assumed Harry would be eager for a proper family of his own but it turned out he was scared that if he had kids he'd abuse them like Vernon had abused him.

Luckily Hermione had managed to convince him that he'd make an amazing dad and now they were eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child. They knew the baby was a girl and they'd decided to name her Grace Lily Potter. Hermione would have thought that Harry would insist on naming the baby after his mother but he said he didn't want their daughter to have to live in anyone's shadow. Eventually he'd agreed Lily could be the baby's middle name and, as a first name, they'd picked Grace, a name they both liked. Hermione had always hated her strange name and wanted a simple name for her own daughter, in the hopes that Grace would have a much simpler life than the one her parents had led.

Unable to resist, Hermione crawled back into bed and kissed her husband on the lips. Harry woke up with a smile on his face. "Well there's a brilliant way to wake up," he smirked, pulling his wife into his arms and deepening their kiss.

Their intimate moment was broken by an explosion which rocked their bedroom. Both lunged for their wands, Harry positioning himself in front of Hermione. Usually she would have objected to this and fought by his side but she knew she had to be careful because of Grace. Unfortunately, being pregnant, Hermione couldn't apparate and the only floo in the house was downstairs. Harry could have escaped but he would never even consider abandoning his pregnant wife to the unknown. "What the hell is going on?" she asked.

"No idea, but we're about to find out," Harry said, hearing something outside the bedroom door. He prayed that regardless of what happened to him Hermione and Grace would be okay. He would be sad if he never got to meet his daughter but he knew that even if he died Hermione wouldn't let Grace forget about him. "I love you both," he said. "Remember that."

"We love you, too," Hermione said. "Be careful, okay? Grace and I need you with us, not six feet underground."

There was no escaping, though; for any of them. Their bedroom door exploded off it's hinges and a vortex of magic swept into the room, enveloping the Potters. Before he lost consciousness the last thing Harry thought was that he was an utter failure as a husband and father. He'd failed to protect his family.


	2. Chapter 2

SAVING GRACE: Chapter Two

When Harry regained consciousness he had a blinding headache and no idea where he was. There was somebody snoring loudly in the distance and the bed Harry was lying on was far too lumpy to be his own.

Harry groped around for his wand, alarmed to realize that, even in the early morning light, he could barely see a thing. Another thing Harry got from the healers he consulted after the war was a potion to fix his vision. His eyes weren't perfect but Harry hadn't had to wear glasses in years so his near blindness now was alarming, especially as Harry still had no idea what was going on or where his wife was. Harry hadn't been in a full-on fight since the war so he was probably a bit rusty. He didn't need the disadvantage of not being able to see as well.

Harry found his wand and, surprisingly, a pair of glasses as well. Sliding the glasses onto his face, he flicked his wand, casting a spell to illuminate the area. He was at Hogwarts, of all places, and Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville were all sleeping in beds around him. Wait a minute. What the...HELL? Harry hadn't set foot in Hogwarts since the war and, while he and Hermione saw Neville fairly frequently, they hadn't seen Ron, Dean or Seamus in years. For that matter they all looked rather...young. His sleeping companions were all spotty teenagers and, examining his own body, Harry found he was, yet again, a scrawny, undernourished midget.

What the fuck was going on here? Had Harry somehow time travelled or had his life with Hermione been nothing but a dream? It felt so real but, then again, stranger things had happened to Harry. "Hermione!" he gasped, feeling a desperate yearning to see his wife.

He flew out of the dormitory, transfiguring his pajamas into proper clothes as he ran. Hermione came running down the stairs from the girls dorms, just as Harry arrived in the common room. "Harry!" she cried, throwing herself into his arms.

"Oh Hermione!" Harry exclaimed, kissing her deeply. "Oh thank god, sweetheart, you're here!"

Both Potters were very glad that the common room was empty as it would have been very hard to explain their uncharacteristic display of emotion to any witnesses. "Come on, room of requirement," Hermione said, tugging her husband out of Gryffindor Tower.

They entered the Room of Requirement to a replica of their bedroom in their house in Cornwall. "Gracie!" Harry moaned dismally, as they curled up on the bed.

Hermione cast the pregnancy test charm and her abdomen glowed a light pink, indicating she was pregnant with a little girl. "Oh thank god!" she cried, as Harry leaned down and kissed her abdomen. "Grace!"

"Hermione, what's going on?" Harry asked, completely confused. He knew this wasn't exactly Hermione's area of expertise either but she was more likely to know what was going on than him. "How is this possible?"

Hermione shrugged helplessly. "I can think of a couple of different ways for a person's future memories and magic to be sent back in time to merge with their younger self but that doesn't effect their physical selves, only the magical and mental. It shouldn't be possible for Grace to have come back with us. And it doesn't even begin to explain how we got sent back in time either. Obviously we didn't send ourselves back so someone must have sent us back."

"Who, though?" Harry asked. "And why? They must have been bloody powerful to have broken into the house through our wards."

"And they must be really well connected," Hermione added. "Because the time travel spells I was talking about are restricted material. I didn't get access to that kind of thing until well after I got my mastery and well after I was registered with the ICW as a certified spell crafter."

"What are we going to do?" Harry asked. "Is there a way for us to go back to our own time?"

"I don't think there is," Hermione shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. "If it had been our adult physical selves that were sent back in time there might - might - be a way but, how we are now, I don't think there's a way to reverse it. I'm fairly certain our adult bodies would have been destroyed when our memories and magic were ripped out. Our adult bodies don't exist anymore and, even if they did, our teenage selves would probably die anyway, if we tried to rip our adult memories and magic again. And Grace would probably die in the process."

"So we're stuck here," Harry said, knowing that neither of them would ever do anything to jeopardize their daughter's safety. "Have you got any idea exactly when 'here' is? How far back did we go?"

"I don't know the exact date but it's fifth year," Hermione said. "The Grade Five Miranda Goshawk book was on my bed when I woke up."

"Fifth year," Harry said with distaste. "Umbitch."

"So we have to fight the war all over again," Hermione sighed.

"Yeah but Sirius is still alive," Harry said, finally realizing a perk of the situation they were in. "As is Emmeline Vance, Dumbledore, Moody, Remus and Tonks, Fred, Colin and so, so many others. We could save all those lives."

"As long as we don't save them at the expense of Grace," Hermione cautioned. "And we have to remember that, as hard as we might try, we won't be able to save everyone. That's just not possible with a war going on."

"I understand," Harry said.

Hermione smiled weakly, feeling extremely overwhelmed. She wasn't afraid of a challenge but whatever situation she walked in to Hermione always went in ultra prepared. She'd received no warning about this, though so didn't even know where to start. "What on earth are we going to do?"

"The first thing we need to do is go and see a healer so we can make sure Gracie really is okay," Harry said.

"Not Pomfrey," Hermione stated adamantly.

When healers had been able to do so much for Harry after the war Harry and Hermione had had a long discussion about the many times at Hogwarts when Harry had found himself in Madam Pomfrey's so-called care. You didn't even need to be a healer to see the obvious damage the Dursleys had inflicted on Harry and yet Madam Pomfrey had never done anything about it. The only conclusion they'd been able to come up with was that Dumbledore had asked her not to because, if Madam Pomfrey made allegations of abuse, Dumbledore would be obliged to remove Harry from Privet Drive, something the old man wasn't prepared to do because of the so-called blood protection. Harry and Hermione had absolutely no sympathy for Madam Pomfrey. On one hand they both knew how hard it was to say no to Dumbledore but, in going along with the old man and only doing the absolute minimum required to keep Harry alive instead of actually helping him, Madam Pomfrey had gone completely against the oaths she'd taken as a healer. Neither Potter trusted her as far as they could throw her.

"I agree with you about Pomfrey," Harry said. "I'd never trust her with Gracie's well being. Going to a muggle doctor is out, though because they'd insist on notifying your parents. As long as nobody sees us arrive at the hospital it should be okay for us to go to St Mungos, though. Hospital healers have to swear on their magic to keep everything confidential and, although because of our ages, they technically should also inform your parents they won't bother because you're muggleborn."

"For once, bigotry works in our favor," Hermione sniffed disdainfully.

"Yeah," Harry sighed, using the room of requirement to summon a calendar. "I don't care about school, we can just re-take our OWLS and NEWTS at the ministry, but we do need to know exactly what the date is."

"What date is it?" Hermione inquired.

"April 15th," Harry said. "Which, if I remember rightly, means the DA has been found out, Dumbledore's been booted out of Hogwarts and I've had my last occlumency lesson with Snape."

"Let's just go and not come back," Hermione said. "I can't believe I'm about to say this but school is pointless for us now and, hopefully, Umbridge won't be as monstrous without you around."

"Wishful thinking, sweetheart," Harry corrected his wife about Umbridge. "Remember the muggleborn registration commission? I had nothing to do with that. I agree with you about Hogwarts, though. There's no point in us sitting through classes we've already taken."

Hermione nodded emphatically. "Our time could be much better spent elsewhere."

"After we go to the healers I want to stop by Gringotts," Harry said.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"The goblins don't care about ministerial laws but even so they aren't going to let me have most of my inheritance until a single second before dad's will stipulates," Harry said thoughtfully. "That's okay, though because my trust fund is more than enough for us, and Gracie, to live on until long after I turn 17. No, I want to go to Gringotts because the goblins should be able to tell us whether our marriage bond also came back in time with us and whether, even though we're physically 15 and 16, we're magically of-age."

"What difference will that make?" Hermione asked. "Aside from the obvious of, if we are of age, us not having to hang around adult witches and wizards outside Hogwarts to mask our use of underage magic."

"Most of the lies Dumbledore told me and most of his manipulations were because of the stupid blood wards," Harry said. "I don't consider Privet Drive my home anymore - I haven't done for years - so, especially if I am magically of-age, if they haven't done already, the blood wards are going to fail completely soon and Dumbledore won't have anything to hold over my head. If the goblins can confirm that I am magically of-age then it will be safe enough to approach Dumbledore."

"You want to tell him the truth about us?" Hermione asked, completely shocked.

Harry sighed. "As much as I hate the idea I think we have to. The fact we'll have a baby in a few months means the Order will know there's something up with us anyway. And besides, so many problems were caused in the war because Dumbledore insisted on lying to us 'kids" even though we just did our own thing and involved ourselves anyway. I can't help thinking that things would have gone much smoother if we'd all just worked together, instead of against each other."

"You're right," Hermione admitted. "We have to tell him but, perhaps, we should tell some other Order members, like Sirius, Remus and Tonks, so we already have some allies when he finds out."

"Sirius for sure," Harry said, equally anticipating and fearing seeing his godfather again. He missed the man every day and yet he still felt so guilty for getting Sirius killed. How was he going to react to seeing Sirius alive again? "He really resented Dumbledore for forcing him to stay at Grimmauld Place so if it comes down to a choice, Sirius will side with us over Dumbledore with no hesitation."

"You know Dumbledore's going to hate the idea of us dropping out of Hogwarts," Hermione cautioned.

"Who cares?" Harry said. "He doesn't control us anymore. He's free to hate the decision all he wants but I think you'll agree with me when I say Hogwarts is in our future only as parents."

"But only if the school is made a heck of a lot safer," Hermione amended. "No child of ours will be exposed to dark lords, dementors, basilisks and all those other foul creatures we were. Our kids will be taught at home or overseas if Hogwarts doesn't bring it's safety procedures up to scratch."

"Agreed," Harry nodded. "So, shall we get this show on the road?"

"In a minute," Hermione said, pulling Harry into a passionate embrace. "I believe we were in the middle of something when we were so rudely interrupted."

Harry smirked as he remembered, lying in bed, Hermione having awoken him with a passionate kiss. "I love you, Mrs Potter."

Hermione smiled radiantly at him. "As I love you, Mr Potter."


	3. Chapter 3

SAVING GRACE: Chapter Three

About two hours later Harry and Hermione left Hogwarts for what would be the final time as students. It was still early so when they were finished in the Room of Requirement they were able to retrieve all their belongings from Gryffindor Tower without anyone but a few other early risers noticing them. Even they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, though because Harry and Hermione left the tower again with their luggage shrunken in their pockets. Even if they were unfortunate enough to have the trace on them again Harry was capable of enough wandless magic to undo the shrinking charms once they were away from Hogwarts.

Hermione couldn't apparate due to her pregnancy so the couple applied glamour charms and left Hogwarts via one of the secret passages. Then, in Hogsmeade, they called the Knight Bus which they took to the Leaky Cauldron, with the intention of flooing to St Mungos from there. Hermione had been very lucky so far with her pregnancy, suffering very little morning sickness, but her face had a distinctly green tinge once she staggered off the bus in London. Apparently pregnancy hormones and the Knight Bus didn't mix.

"Never again!" she muttered, leaning on her husband for support as she fought to keep her nausea at bay.

Harry quickly got her a glass of water from the bar. "Neither of us have a drivers license so I'm guessing it's muggle public transport for us until Gracie's here," he said cheekily.

"That and the floo," Hermione said, starting to feel better.

Once she was feeling well enough to travel again, the Potters took the floo to St Mungos and, checking in with the welcome witch, they were directed to the maternity wing. The couple had taken a chance coming here without an appointment but luckily they didn't have to wait long to see a healer. Harry and Hermione both knew that any half decent healer would know straight away that they were wearing glamor charms and could potentially refuse to treat them if the healer thought they were hiding something. Knowing the hospital's numerous wards would mask the potential use of underage magic, Harry removed their glamor charms as soon as they got in to the examination room. The couple knew they would have to rely on the healer's sworn oaths to keep their visit private.

Senior Healer Marsha Alderman opened the door of the examination room a few minutes later. Maternity patients saw a lot of different healers during their pregnancy. In fact it was hospital policy to get expectant mothers used to several different healers as babies were unpredictable and you couldn't guarantee the mother would go into labor when a certain staff member was on duty. For their first appointment, though expectant mothers always saw a senior healer, who had the most training and could find any potential problems early on.

Healer Alderman was extremely surprised to discover that her newest patients were the boy-who-lived and his almost as well known muggleborn best friend. Harry and Hermione both hated her on sight. The woman was dedicated enough to her career to give Hermione the best possible care and honorable enough not to even consider looking for a loophole in her confidentiality oath to spread the Potters' happy news. She did, however, spend the entire appointment lecturing Harry and Hermione about how stupid and irresponsible they'd been and about how they'd ruined not only their own lives but their innocent daughter's life as well. Healer Alderman had no way of knowing that Harry and Hermione weren't the typical teenage parents or that they had none of the emotional or financial worries many in their situation would. If they had been normal, scared teenagers in trouble, coming to her for help, she would have just made things worse for them, though.

Healer Alderman had been able to reassure them that Gracie was completely healthy and would arrive around November 4th. Harry and Hermione had no patience for people like her, though so, when she left the room to fetch Hermione some pre-natal potions, they had a hushed conversation and agreed not to see her again. Not only were they unwilling to put up with her furious righteousness, in the long run it would decrease their chances of exposure if they could see a private practice healer, not associated with St Mungos.

"Okay, Miss Granger, you'll need to take one dose of this potion every morning for the entire duration of your pregnancy," the healer said, when she returned.

"Thank you," Hermione said, already knowing that. She'd already been on the potion before she and Harry were sent back in time.

"There's enough potion to last a month," Healer Alderman added. "You'll be given some more at your next appointment in four weeks."

"That will be fine," Hermione said, not bothering to explain to the woman that there would be no 'next appointment' for her. If Hermione couldn't get more of the potion from a private healer she'd just make it herself. She wasn't about to risk endangering her daughter by being seen buying the potion from an apothecary. "Healer Alderman I'm really, really sorry for what I'm about to do."

"And what's that?" the woman asked warily, trying to subtly reach for her wand.

Hermione was quicker on the draw, though. "Obliviate!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at his wife. "I thought her healer oaths would be enough to force her to keep her mouth shut."

Hermione shrugged unapologetically. "They probably are but I'm not willing to take the risk, are you?"

They sent Healer Alderman on her way and, before they left the room, they re-applied their glamor charms. At the desk Harry left a few galleons to pay for Hermione's potions, inventing a story about he and his wife going overseas to explain why they weren't booking a second appointment.

From St Mungos they flooed to Gringotts. Harry and Hermione knew that the goblins had security measures that would identify them regardless of their appearance so they left their glamor charms on. Their visit to Gringotts was just as successful, if not even more so, than their visit to the hospital. A conversation with Longnail, the Potter account manager, found that the bank had Harry listed as a legal adult and a married man and a check of the records found Hermione also had the same status.

Unfortunately James Potter's will said that Harry couldn't have access to the main Potter vaults until he was 17, not legally of age, but Harry was able to authorize Hermione to have access to his trust fund. Hermione also made arrangements to have her muggle bank account shut down and the balance added to Harry's vault. The other thing they did was draw up wills. Neither were expecting to die but, planning to make changes in the war, Harry and Hermione knew there was a chance one or both of them wouldn't survive and they needed to make sure Grace would be taken care of if the worst happened.

They bequeathed everything and custody of Grace to each other if only one of them died but Grace would inherit everything if both of them were killed. Given that there was a war raging Harry and Hermione couldn't be certain who would be left alive to look after Grace if they died so they left a whole list of potential guardians for her, in order of preference:  
Sirius Black Andromeda Tonks Remus & Nymphadora Lupin Neville Longbottom Luna Lovegood Bill & Fleur Weasley Fred or George Weasley Minerva McGonagall If none of those people were alive they requested Grace be adopted in the muggle world, preferably by a squib or nice relatives of a muggleborn witch or wizard. Harry and Hermione specifically stated that Grace was to have no contact with her maternal grandparents or paternal relatives.

"Do you really think our wishes will be followed?" Hermione asked cynically. "After all your dad had a clause in his will prohibiting contact with the Dursleys and look where you ended up."

"But dad also named Dumbledore as executor and we both know the old man has a nasty habit of totally disregarding everyone else's opinion so long as it's in the name of his precious greater good," Harry pointed out. "Personally I think we're safe, though. Your idea about naming Longnail as executor and giving him custody of Grace if the Ministry won't follow our other wishes was genius. No offense Longnail but the ministry won't want the daughter of their precious boy-who-lived being raised by a so-called creature so they'll be forced to follow our main list of guardians."

"No offense taken, Harry," the goblin said. "In fact I completely agree with you. Now, I'll get these wills officially entered into our records today. Is there anything else you need?"

"A Gringotts payment card for each of us," Hermione requested. "Although there's no hurry for that as we don't plan on making any big purchases in the near future and have already withdrawn enough small change to tide us over for a couple of weeks. What we do need, though is some muggle currency."

"About 100 pounds each would be good," Harry said, glancing at his wife for conformation. "You can take the equivalent amount of gold from our vault."

"Very well," Longnail said, opening the office door and passing a message to one of the security goblins in the corridor outside. "The currency will be available for you to pick up at the security desk in 10 minutes. There is a three galleon processing fee per payment card and they take a minimum of three days to be processed depending on how many people are on the waiting list for them. Each cardholder must also personally collect their card from Gringotts as a reading of their individual magical signatures need to be taken and attached to the cards for identification purposes."

"That's fine," Hermione said. "Please take the gold from our vault for that as well."

"You will receive an owl when the cards are ready to be collected," Longnail informed them.

Harry and Hermione collected their muggle currency and then left Diagon Alley via the Leaky Cauldron. They had brunch at a small cafe a short walk down Charring Cross Road. "Classes will have started at Hogwarts by now," Hermione said. "Do you think our absence will have been noticed?"

"Probably," Harry said. "I just hope bloody Umbridge doesn't take it out on our friends. I don't care what happens to Ron and Ginny and Fred and George had already left Hogwarts by this point. There's still Neville and Luna, though. They didn't come out of their shells until this year. If that old cow does anything to hurt them..."

"Their futures are going to be different enough as it is," Hermione fretted. "It was the Department of Mysteries fiasco that gave them such a boost of confidence and obviously that won't be happening this time around."

"It definitely won't be happening," Harry agreed' thinking of his godfather who'd died that terrible night. "But I still think Neville and Luna can be the people we remember them as. It was the Lestranges getting out of Azkaban that started Neville changing and for Luna it was the realization that everyone in the DA were her friends. If we keep in contact with them and remind them to keep in touch with each other I think they'll be okay. Perhaps now we've left school they'll step in and take charge of the DA sooner than they did last time around."

"They'll still have Ron and Ginny to contend with, though," Hermione pointed out.

Harry shrugged. "You never know, sweetheart. Maybe those two will be less childish this time around because they've never been in relationships with either of us. If you think about it, it wasn't until they realized we were together and had no intention of breaking up that they started acting like idiots. Hopefully they won't be as bad this time around. If not, though sooner or later their tempers will get the better of them. They'll say something stupid and nobody will take them seriously anymore, leaving the way clear for Neville and Luna."

"I hope you're right," Hermione said dubiously. "If we're going to work with the Order we're going to have to deal with Mr and Mrs Weasley as well. That's going to be horrendous. You know as well as I do how reluctant Molly was to let go of her fantasy about one big happy Weasley family."

"The ball's in her court how she wants to deal with things," Harry stated. "I'm grateful to her for everything she did for me when I was younger but I love you. Bill, Fleur and the twins are great but I have no problems cutting ties with the rest of them if Molly can't or won't accept that we're together."

"Getting to be an honorary grandma once Grace is here might help matters," Hermione suggested.

"Maybe," Harry said. "But only as long as she understands Grace is our daughter and will be raised how we want, not how Molly thinks she should be."

"Agreed," Hermione nodded.

"And speaking of Gracie's grandparents, what do you want to do about your mum and dad?" Harry asked cautiously. "Dumbledore was the one who endangered the Dursleys by dumping me on their doorstep and then letting it be known I was being raised by muggle relatives so he can figure out how to protect them. How do you want to handle your parents, though?"

Hermione's face took on a decidedly tense expression. Even years later her parents were a decidedly touchy subject with her. Harry and the Dursleys had always hated each other so the loss of his muggle relatives didn't bother him. Hermione, however, had loved her parents deeply at one point and it hurt her that they couldn't accept her magic.

"I think it would be best if we did the same thing as last time, just a bit sooner," she decided finally. "They may not want me for a daughter but that doesn't mean I want them dead so sometime soon I'll obliviate them and send them out of the country."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "If you wanted to try and form a better relationship with them this time I'm sure we could come up with some other way to keep them safe."

Hermione shook her head. "They made it perfectly clear they'll never be able to accept my magic so I may as well remove myself from the equation. My only worry is that, without me, they might have another child. What if that child is magical as well and they abandon it too?"

"We'll keep an eye on them, sweetheart and if you do end up with a little brother or sister we'll sort it out then," Harry said.

"Thank you, Harry," Hermione said, relieved.

They'd finished their meal so Harry handed over some cash and then held out a hand to his wife. "Let's go and find a taxi," he said. "I think it's time for us to face the Order of the Phoenix."


End file.
